Cuspidor for cars.



No. 760,964. h PATENTED MAY 24,1904. R. T. GUMMINS & 0. P. IVIB.

GUSPIDOR FOR CARS.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 9, 1903. N0 MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented May 24, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

RIDLEY T. CUMMINS AND OLIVER P. IVIE, OF SHEFFIELD, ALABAMA.

CUSPIDOR FOR CARS- SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 760,964, dated May 24, 1904.

Application filed July 9, 1903- Serial No. 164,795- (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, RIDLEY T. CUMMINs and OLIVER P. IvIE, citizens of the United States, and residents of Sheffield, in the county of Colbert and State of Alabama, have invented to the traveling public.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts, as ishereinafter described, and defined in the appended claim.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional View of a car-floor in part, two car-seats in position, and the improvement positioned in the floor between the seats; and Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan view of the improvement.

In the drawings, 5 represents the floor of a car, and 6 6 two of a row of seats held secured upon the floor at a suitable distance apart. In the space between the seats 6 at an appropriate point a preferably rectangular frame 7 is secured in a correspondinglyshaped opening in the floor 5, the upper edge of the opening being rabbeted to receive the border flange a, that projects from the upper edge of the frame, so that said upper edge will be disposed flush with the upper surface of the floor. Upon the top' of the frame 7 a cover-plate 8 is mounted and secured, said cover being seated upon the floor and covering about one-half of the top of the frame.

Below an opening in the frame 7 at one end of the cover-plate 8, a cuspidor 9 is hung by securing it upon the inner wall of the frame 7 and, as shown, the cuspidor consists of a preferably metal shell, formed with a cup-like wall that converges toward the lower end, as shown at 9 in Fig. 1, this lower portion passing through a support that may be a portion of the floor 5.

Between the cover-plate 8 and the upper edge of the cuspidor-body 9 a lid 10 is held to slide on the frame 7, this loose engagement adapting the lid to cover the top of the cuspidor when adjusted toward one end of the frame and entirely open the same when the lid is moved to the opposite end thereof. While different means may be provided for sliding the lid 10 to close or open the upper end of the cuspidor 9, it is preferred to em ploy the mechanism shown, comprising the following details:

From one side of the frame 7 alug 7 a projects. whereon a rock-arm 11 is pivoted at a point a, near one end of said arm, thus providing two members of different lengths, the longer member extending below the frame toward the middle of the lid 10, whereon it is horizontal lever 15 upon the lower end of the shaft and by a collar 14, formed on the shaft between its ends. The opposite end of the lever 15 is extended toward the short member of the link-bar 12, whereon it is pivoted, as shown in Fig. 2.

A handle-bar 16 is centrally afiixed upon the upper end of the shaft 14 and is so relatively disposed that when the lid 10 is closed over the cuspidor.9 the handle-bar will extend lengthwise of the space between the seats 6, and thus prevent any obstruction of said space. The handle-bar 16, from its relative position, may be conveniently pressed upon by the leg of the person seated over the handle-bar and in this way readily open the cuspidor by sliding the lid 10 away from it, so that without the use of the hands one may open lid that covers the cuspidor as occasion may require. Upon one edge of the lever 15, near the linkbar 12, one end of the contractile spring 17 is connected, the opposite end thereof being loosely secured upon a projection on the frame 7, and it will be seen that the tension of the spring automatically draws the lid 10 over the cuspidor 9.

When the lid 10 is in normal closed adjustment, it is, in effect, a portion of the floor and prevents upward draft of air and affords support for the feet of the occupant of the seat in front of which the lid is located.

When the passenger seated conveniently to the cuspidor 9 has occasion to use the same, by turning the handle-bar 16 in direction of the arrow .70 in Fig. 2 the lever 15, link 12, and rock-arm 11 will be so adjusted that the lid will slide from above the cuspidor, and thus afford access to the latter, the release of the handle-bar permitting the contraction of the stretched spring 17 to restore the lid to a normal position over the cuspidor.

Of course it is to be understood that any desired number of the improved sanitary cuspidors are to be provided for a car.

It will be seen that the position of the improvement between a pair of seats permits its use when the seats are reversed in position, so that the device is Well adapted for service at all times. Furthermore, as the cuspidor is simply a funnel-shaped conveying-tube there is no accumulation therein, and when cars are cleaned the cuspidors may be readily washed Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 7 A cuspidor for cars and attachments therefor comprising a rectangular frame held in the rabbeted edge of a ear-floor, a cover-plate on the ear-floor covering a part of the frame, a funnel-shaped cuspidor hung rigidly from the frame below the aperture at the end of the cover-plate, and a lid held to slide in the frame above the cuspidor to close the opening in the floor, of a rock-arm pivoted between its ends upon the under side of the frame, the slotted inner end of the rock-arm being pivoted upon the lid at one end thereof, a link-bar pivoted by one end upon the outer end of the rockarm, an upright sleeve secured upon the floor nearly below a side edge of a ear-seat, a shaft held to turn in the sleeve, a transverse handle-bar mounted upon the upper end of the shaft, said shaft extending below the car-floor, a lever secured by one end thereof upon the lower end of the shaft, the other end of the lever being pivoted upon the remaining end of the link-bar, and a contractile spring secured by its ends respectively upon the frame and the lever, the pull of the spring moving the rock-arm so as to close the lid.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this. specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

RIDLEY T. OUMMINS. OLIVER P. IVIE. Witnesses:

P. C. RICHARDSON, R. W. BUTLER. 

